230 -"No One Knows How Long We Will Be Stuck" Jeremiah 38-40; Psalm 74; 79

                                                                        

Jeremiah 38:6 "They took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud. But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern.

Jeremiah 38:15 "Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.  But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this life for us, surely I will not put you to death nor will I give you over to the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”

Ebed-melech could have remained silent.  But that was not right with God---not right with this holy man.  Willing to be harmed and humbled, Ebed-melech was directed by the Spirit of God to stand up for Jeremiah.  He saved his life.  We may never know when our words may save someone from their dilemmas in life.  May we be directed by the Spirit of God and listen only to Him, not to man, not to this world.  Crabb wrote in 66 Love Letters:  You assume that you are doing fine in your relationship with God while you run off trying to make life work.  Expecting God to cooperate.  Notice t.h.i.s.  God doesn't solve secondary problems.  The big issues in life is worship and intimacy with God, not wealth, health or personal comfort.  

"None of us know how long this will be."
We may be stuck here for a very long time.
Psalm 74:9

So, I cried out to God for help.
At night, "I stretched out untiring hands."
Too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days,
years of long ago.
And asked . . .
"Will God never show His Favor again?"
Has God forgotten to be merciful?

And, here's the point of the passage:
"To this I will appeal:
Not the present trials I touch.
No, something grander.
All those years when I found God
and His Mighty Power.
To the years when the Most High
stretched out His Right Hand."
For Your Path led through the sea.
And, you know, we can't see
God's Footprints in the sea.
Sometimes He is ahead of us.

A Toast to the Years when the Most High
Stretched out His Right Hand to me.

PHOTO: The Immutable Invincible Incarnate Word offered to each of us by the Rescuing Grace of God.